Archive for the ‘Lena River’ Category

25.08.10

After four days of river, sun and forest, we arrived at Ust Kut, paid our 4600 ruble fare and rode the bikes off the barge at the front of the disembarking queue.  Oddly enough, I bumped into a trucker I knew waiting for the next barge … a familiar face from last years barge ride.  I needed to top up credit levels on my internet modem sim card, and SJ needed some water.

The first day back on the road was a short day.  By 12:30pm we had reached Magistralny.  The last 30 minutes were in rain.  Magistralny had been my soft target for the day.  It was an easy one, just 165km from Ust Kut.  We stopped for lunch and a chance to sit out the rain.

When it was still raining when we came out, I asked SJ what she wanted to do.  We still had over 6 hours of daylight, but there was only one small village between here and out next target, Zhigalovo, and it would have neither food nor accommodation.  I recommended we stay.  She concurred.

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26.08.10

It was still light rain when we awoke.  But the thought of staying in Magistralny another night offended my sensibilities.  When by 9am the rain had effectively ceased, I turned to Sherri Jo and said “OK, we go now.”

She looked at me and said “Somehow I thought you’d say that.”

And so we hit the road, topped up with fuel and headed down towards the Zhigalovo Road turnoff.   The Zhigalovo Road last year was a pretty tame affair, but a lot can change with Siberian roads in a year, as I had seen many times earlier on this ride.  The Zhigalovo Road this year was a rocky, potholed, brutal road that had become a real suspension killer.  While there was very little rain about, most of the road was above 900 metres in altitude, which seemed to be the cloud base level today … so most of the ride was through saturated fog, on a brutal muddy, rocky, wet road.  I didn’t enjoy it at all.

With 200 km down and just 100 to go, we passed two German cyclists coming the other way.  The guy walked over to me and asked “Walter?”  As it turns out it was a guy who had written to me earlier in the year asking for information about the BAM Road.  We chatted for 10 minutes before heading off.  I was keen to get warm, dry and clean in Zhigalovo.  The last 60-70 km into Zhigalovo was much better than the previous 230, and the last 30km was even dry.

A fast dry gravel road with lots of bends.  It was my first chance of the day to have some fun in the dirt and I lapped it up, charging ahead towards Zhigalovo at high speed.  I waited just outside Zhigalovo for Sherri Jo and we road together into town to look for either a place to stay, or a trio of riders heading the other way I had half suggested we meet here.

Sure enough on the road into town a KTM 950 Super Enduro was being welded by the side of the road.  I stopped and saw a guy in BMW riding pants grinding some subframe bracing piece.  “You must be Walter” he said.  I guess I had found the guys.

Two Australian guys, Dean and Paul had ridden up through Africa and were now heading towards Magadan.  They had hooked up in Mongolia with Barton, a guy I had met in Vienna in May, as I was finishing my last trip and he was starting his Trans-Eurasian ride.  The three of them were staying at a truckers hotel just around the corner from the metal shop where I saw Dean.

That evening, over a few beers, all three of the guys, Dean, Paul and Barton all were clearly up for as much challenging riding as the timeframe allowed.  All were finishing their trips in Magadan, and had about 2 weeks left.  They needed as much action as could be packed into that last two weeks.  I told them about various options.  Definitely they were up for the Old Summer Road on the Road of Bones.  Then I told them about the BAM Road.  “Sounds interesting” said Paul.  Barton, who had followed last year BAM Road thread on ADVrider told me to show them the fotos.  I explained there are two halves to the BAM Road … the western half to Tynda, which is a 6 day ride, and the eastern half, after Tynda, which you need to allow a few weeks for, and want to have a very fresh, properly prepped bike for.

The guys faces lit up on seeing the fotos, and it was agreed.  Take the BAM Road from Severobaikalsk to Tynda, then a day or two fast ride north to Yakutsk, and then the Old Road to Magadan.  It was a good, challenging way to finish their trips.  I will look forward to reading the blog on that one!  www.donkeyandthemule.com.au.

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27.08.10 – 28.08.10

We all left Zhigalovo at the same time; Barton on his 640 Adventure and Paul and Dean on their 950 SEs all heading North East, and Sherri Jo and I headed South towards Lake Baikal.  As we filled up with fuel, I told SJ that she had ridden her last full day on dirt … at least with me.

130 km down the road we came to the town of Kachug and I gave her the news that it was asphalt from here – with the exception of 40 km of dirt roads on Olkhon Island, the largest island in Lake Baikal and our destination for the day.

We got to ride a highway sitting down for the first time since leaving Magadan, and cruised onto the Olkhon Ferry in good time.  I discovered my starter button was jammed.  Tapping it made the starter work … it should be enough to get me 40km further to the town of Khuzhir.  I can pull it apart and try to fix it there.

The Khuzhir town sign is wearing a few more stickers this year than it did last year, but I am pleased to report that the Sibirsky Extreme sticker is still holding firm.

We pulled into Nikita’s place, a hostel / hotel with wifi internet and popular with Russian travellers and foreign backpackers alike, and were greeted at reception in English.  It was quite a shock and announced we were now back in the parts of Russia where you are not the first foreigner locals have ever seen.  Sherri Jo noted as we unpacked that it feels like a double edged sword … while conveniences like wifi internet, and other travel conveniences would be really handy, the novelty and the pioneering feel you get travelling in the more remote parts of Siberia, and the unique hospitality locals can afford you because you are so unique, would now be gone.  From here on, it would be a different world.

I fixed my starter button … the spring behind it is toast, and would fail again before too long, but I stretched it out to buy a bit more time.  Then I went out for a solo ride and explored the island.

Olkhon Island and the Eastern side in particular is mostly cliffs.  It made for some spectacular vantage points, looking out over this massive lake.

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29.08.10

The last riding day with Sherri Jo, saw use take off in the afternoon and cruise into Irkutsk.

We went to the Baik-Konur bike club house, but it was closed.  Apparently shut down 2 months ago after disputes between the 2 main guys who ran it.  I tried some other accommodation options but they were full.  In the end we met some bikers on the street and they told us to wait for Petya, one of the former guys behind Baik-Konur.

Apparently the 29^th of August is celebrated as the birthday of the motorcycle in Russia, and we spent hours that evening following bikers from one party to another.  Eventually at 11pm, more than 6 hours after arriving in Irkutsk, we got to Petya’s garage, which had a couple of beds, and we able to relax and unwind.

20.08.10

3 am wake up.  Sherri Jo looks up at the sky and says “but it’s pitch black.”  I was not impressed … If she was a man I would have replied “a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do” … In much harsher language … but that wouldn’t have worked in this case in any form.  Igor drove us down to the bikes.  Big Igor turned up too to send us off.

And then we hit the dirt road to Lensk.  Despite upgrading her lights from the piddly stock KTM item, SJs lights still were not worthy.  There was no other option, I slowed and rode beside her to share my HID50s.  When she fell 10 yards behind, she fell 100 yards behind.  As soon as she fell out of the big pool of light in front of my bike, she was blind and slowed from 60 km/h to 30 km/h.  There is simply no substitute for first class lighting, and bolt on additional lighting is always subject to breakage in falls.  The only acceptable solution I have found is to replace any stock lighting with top quality high power bi-xenon units.  This year I am running more powerful 50 watt ballasts and bulbs from HID50, usually reserved for modern light aircraft landing lights, in the Audi A6 projectors I used last year.  I had a plan to replace those projectors with newer, better Infinity bi-xenon projectors but time ran out on me.  But the A6 projectors are still something to behold.  I rode alongside SJ, supplying the light, until the dawn began to break around 6am.

As dawn broke, we were about halfway to Lensk … and both very cold.  It wasn’t the temperature, which was about +7C (44F) it was the humidity which was around 100%.  We were in and out of fog the whole ride.

We finally made Lensk just before 8am … our required arrival time.  A few phone calls were made and we had to report to the barge waiting area.  About 9am the dispatcher turned up, looked at the waiting trucks and said “no barge today …. Not enough trucks … we go tomorrow now.”

We made our way to Lensk’s very overpriced hotel, probably used to waiting barge traffic, paid US$100 for a twin room and went back to sleep.

In the evening, as we strolled around looking for dinner, an Uzbek lady selling fruit struck up a conversation in English with Sherri Jo.  She was keen for some practice and invited us back to her place for dinner – Uzbek plov.  Naturally, we were spoiled … chocolate, fruit, plov, and more fruit for the barge tomorrow.  We finally left after midnight.  Sherri Jo said its becoming normal that we get spoiled every day.  I thought about it … yes we had been spoiled every day in Mirny by Igor and the boys, and by Andrei the electrical handyman.  We had been spoiled in Suntar, in VerkhneVilyuisk, and in Vilyuisk.  It had been a long time since a stranger had not spoiled us.  We have been very lucky indeed to meet such good people on a daily basis.

- – -

21.08.10 – 25.08.10

And so it begins … the 4 day barge ride upriver to Ust Kut.  We rode the bikes onto the barge about 9am.

The guy in charge of loading opened up an empty shipping container and offered it for our gear and bikes.  They asked where we would sleep, and after a brief conversation in which it became clear that they had a cabin free in the barge tower but it would cost 5000 rubles each (about 125 EUR each) for the ride to Irkutsk, we declined, and said we would sleep in the container, with the bikes.

The barge pulled out of Lensk and we settled into life on board, preparing our steel box for 4 days of eating, sleeping and blogging.  Sherri Jo entertained the truck drivers who were already well on the way to being very drunk.  Within an hour or two, we were out of mobile phone range of Lensk and the wilderness of the taiga forest and the Lena River was all there was to see.

The crew hosed off the desks and we wheeled the bikes out and scored a free wash.

Around dinner time, Denis, the first mate on the barge, approached us and said the captain had taken pity on us and offered us a cabin free of charge.  Yet again we had been spoiled!  It was about the 12^th day in a row.  Must be the luck of the English!

We were taken up to the bridge and given a tour.  This was the best kept barge I had seen.  It was my fourth boat trip between Lensk and Ust Kut.  This barge was immaculate inside the living quarters and up on the bridge.

Overnight, the barge made its only stop – Peledui – and the barge filled up.  The acres of space we had previously enjoyed for bike washing was now taken up.

I had enquired about the possibility of getting let off the barge at Kirensk or even Chechuisk.  I had the idea that SJ can cruise on the boat to Ust Kut, but perhaps I can get off early and ride down and meet her, from Kirensk or slightly further downstream, but the barge only makes the one stop at Peledui.  Almost nothing stops at Kirensk any more.  At one time Kirensk was the main and only stop.  But now Kirensk is a shadow of its former self.  The boat I took twice last year still stops in Kirensk, but the barges don’t.  In fact the smaller boat seemed to be flexible enough to stop anywhere.  I think next time I am here, I will prearrange with the boat to get let on or off at Chechuisk.

The journey upriver from Lensk to Ust Kut is 1000km long … 1 million metres, at the rate of just under 3 metres per second.  We had climbed 130 metres, from 160m amsl at Lensk to 290m amsl at Ust Kut.  That’s 13cm every kilometre.

Evening on the barge:

Occasional villages along the Lena:

Morning Mist, River Lena:

Typical view … in 3 parts … the River, the Taiga forest and the blue sky … Its pretty much all we saw for 4 days:

05.09.09

I slept in till almost midday in my Udachny hotel room.  I had thoughts of riding back to Mirny today, but it was a Saturday.  The few things I needed to do in Mirny needed to wait until Monday anyway, and I was still thinking about a potential ride out with the towns bad boys.  As it happens the bad boys didnt contact me until 5pm, and I had just jet washed the bike (thanks to the mining company guys) and refilled it with fuel, thinking they wouldnt call.  In any case, the lads didnt actually know what lay beyond the river crossing, and their bikes didn’t look like they stood a good chance of going very far.

- – -

06.09.09

I had packed the night before and decided to leave early.  I could have waited round until 11:30 when the cafe opened and had a cup of tea and stocked up on some food, but instead hit the road about 8:45am

It was terribly cold, probably about -3 degrees.  Light snow had fallen overnight, the second snow of the season.  The previous night had seen the first snow but it hadnt stuck.  Even with all the gear on including my heated vest and gloves I was struggling with the cold and reduced speed to 75km/h for the first hour to help deal with it.

After a completely uneventful morning I reached Chernyshevsky 430 km and 5 hours later, stopping there to refuel and to get something to eat and drink.  I continued on to Mirny, arriving soon after 3pm.  When I turned on my phone, a SMS arrived from Arnaud, saying he was making good progress on the Vilyuisky Trakt and should arrive in Mirny tonight.  I called Ilya, the biker I knew in Mirny and he was fixing his Africa Twin with the town’s moto-cross guys.  I went round there and did a couple of laps of the moto-cross track myself on the XC, before letting a proper motocross rider have a go on my bike.

About 6pm I got a phone call from Arnaud.  He had just arrived in Mirny.  I told him to meet Ilya and myself in Lenin Square.  Five minutes later and we were all there.  Arnaud had a contact in Mirny who had a place where we could stay for free, so we waited for the contact to show up and take to our very humble lodgings, before heading out for a dinner of Shashlik and beer before retiring.

- – -

07.09.09

9am and Arnaud woke me up in my freezing unheated room with news that he had just been told there was a boat leaving Lensk at 12:00.  We had been worried about when we might get the next boat so this was a boat we needed to try and take.  They would hold the boat until 12:30 for us.  It was a 3 hour ride.  We had 30 minutes to wake up, pack and leave Mirny.

I didnt so much pack as throw all my gear into my bags.  I still had stuff at Andrei’s garage and Andrei doesnt usually start until 10am, but I called him and asked him to rush down and open his garage for me.  He did.

Arnaud and I sped full throttle down to Lensk, slowing only for the mud created by recent rain, and roadworks.  We headed directly for where the boat had dropped me off 5 days earlier, and the same boat was waiting.  Luggage was stripped off and our bikes shoved up the nose of the boat to rest on the front deck.

From here it was a 5 day boat ride upstream to Ust Kut, on a twin engined boat that had only one engine working.

- – -

07, 08, 09, 10, 11.09.09

Arnaud was the French guy who had stopped Tony in the streets of Vladivostok after recognising him as one of the Sibirsky Extreme guys.  He had been after road condition information on the Road of Bones, as he was about to board a boat to Magadan.  I had kept in touch with Arnaud, and a few weeks later (when he was relaxing in Yakutsk) we chatted about the BAM road and Vilyuisky Trakt, and which would be better to get him back to Irkutsk.  As my experience of the BAM road unfolded, and with Arnaud travelling solo, it became clear that the only choice was the Vilyuisky Trakt.

Arnaud took the recommended road and was greeted at every ferry,and almost every cafe and fuel stop with “Guess what?! We had two English guys come thru here a few months ago also on motorcycles”.

Arnaud is fluent in Russian and reported to me when we met in Mirny that not only were the two English guys famous on the Vilyuisky Trakt, but Tony and I had made a positive impression everywhere.  That is something that money cant buy, an inner satisfaction.  These people had been very good to us (apart from one river crossing truck driver) and it was satisfying to hear we had left a positive impression with the Yakuts of the Vilyui valley, as indeed they had with us.

Arnaud has been in Siberia for 15 years, running his own tour firm on Lake Baikal, organising movie sets in Yakutia etc, even running motorcycle tours around the Baikal region.  He is riding one of his left over tour bikes, a TTR 250.  It’s proved a little underpowered for the more open sections of road, and he said he was full throttle for the whole road to Lensk.

As the boat sailed into the first night, we began talking about some of the expressions of interest I have had in the Sibirsky Extreme Project.  Arnaud, with his years of running tours and logistics in Siberia felt there was be a good opportunity to put together a one-off organised motorcycle trip from Magadan to Lake Baikal next year, led by the two of us.

The following days were spent refining the concept. The more we thought and talked about it, the more the idea made sense.  So few people ever make it to Magadan on a bike, or get to do the Road of Bones, yet many dream of it.  The logistical and language barriers are the primary reasons.  Its a hell of a long way away, its very hard to get to, and nobody there speaks English.  As for the Vilyuisky Trakt into the attractive heart of Yakutia, its virgin territory for foreigners, let alone motorcyclists.  Lake Baikal is a logical, beautiful place to finish and really is Arnaud’s speciality … he knows that region like the back of his hand.

Look for a link on the website in the weeks ahead. It could only ever be a small group, 5-8 people, over 4 weeks. If anyone is interested, drop me a line thru the blog and we will send out more detailed information as we put it together.  If we get enough expressions of interest, we will have a serious ride on next summer, Magadan – Baikal.

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12.09.09

Arnaud and I had arrived back in Ust Kut around 10pm last night and arranged to stay on board the boat for one more night.  The plan was to leave first thing in the morning. We pushed the bikes off the boat and locked them together next to the boat, set the alarm for 05:30 ! and tried to sleep.  Sleeping was near impossible onthe boat, without the drone of the engine in the background and it was an evening of tossing and turning and restlessness.

5:30 came and despite both wanting to sleep in, we headed down to the galley, where the cook from the boat had also woken up early to cook breakfast for us.  With full stomachs, we loaded up the bikes and were ready to go by 6:30, only it was still pitch black.  I consulted my phone … daylight comes to Ust Kut at 7:20 am on this day of the year.  And so we went back to our cabin and had 45 minutes snooze before finally hitting the road about 7:15.

It was cold and foggy and I had dressed in my heated vest. Arnaud on his little 250 had no such luxury.  He just had to endure the cold.  Bratsk was 350km away, mostly over dirt roads, but the roads were decent and we made it to the sprawling spread out city of Bratsk around lunchtime.  The Hydroelectric dam at Bratsk is supposed to be one of the largest in the world, and it certainly was huge.  I have never seen one bigger.

I noticed my front end didnt feel right.  Tony P has a credo that if something doesnt feel or sound right, its because something isnt right, and you need to stop and sort it out. I knew something wasnt right but just felt like I wanted to get to Krasnoyarsk where the bike would get a full going over by Zhenya and his team of bike mechanics.

Bratsk is spread out over about 50 km and while riding through Bratsk the unease in the front end of the bike felt progressively worse.  We stopped and chatted to some Police guys about the road to Taishet, the last 300km of the BAM road.  They said if we want to go to Krasnoyarsk from Bratsk, we needed to go on the asphalt road to Tulun and then the Trans Siberian Highway to Krasnoyarsk.  With my front end clearly sick, I decided not to argue.  It was a longer route, but a safer one with a sick bike.

80 km outside of Bratsk and I was kicking myself for not listening to Tony’s credo.  I had seen grease oozing past the right front wheel bearing seal when we had stopped in Bratsk and strongly suspected that bearing was on the way out.  I had been obsessed with getting to Krasnoyarsk and should have stopped in Bratsk to see what could be done about the bearing.  Now I was out on the empty road and the bearing was dead.  It was cold but at least it had temporarily stopped raining.  There was nothing for it but to get sore and greasy and sort the problem.

Arnaud rode 500 yards ahead where a truck was parked on the side of the road and borrowed a hammer. I jacked up the bike with a stick and removed the front wheel. I started whacking out the old bearing with the hammer and a screwdriver.  Predictably it crumbled and I was left with the problem of trying to remove the outer housing of the old bearing.  After 20 minutes and a lot of sore thumbs, I had removed the old bearing completely and searched around in my spare pars bag for new bearings.

5½ months on the road and a lot of water in the side bags had left my spare bearings in poor shape.  All my spare parts were covered in sand and rust.  I had no option by to clean up one of the bearings as best I could and use it.  The truck drivers up the road began to move off and Arnaud went to offer them the hammer back.  They said we needed it more th

29.08.09

Tony and Terry checked into the Lena Hotel in downtown ust Kut.  I had ridden ahead of them to get to Ust Kut in time to sort out a boat trip back to Lensk.

I still harboured a burning ambition to get to the Arctic Circle in Asia.  Tony and Terry were short on time and had to head back to the UK, but I thought I just had enough time before the seasons changed to try one more time to get North from Udachny.

A few handshakes and hugs could never be enough to say farewell to the two guys who have partnered me along this BAM Road odyssey.  Tony has been with me for almost 3 months … initially just planning to ride Altai, Tuva and Lake Baikal with me over 3 weeks, but that grew into 3 months across some of the wildest roads in Siberia.  I am unsure how it will feel to be riding without Tony.  It was in Central Asia the last time I set out on a day’s ride without waking up Tony first.  I dont think I have met a guy with such understated determination.  No matter how tough things got, Tony just put his head down and got the job done.  What he lacked in technique he made up for in abundance with balls.  The guy is all about balls.  If you see him, offer to shake his balls!

Terry has been a different asset on the BAM road.  Apart from his ability to have a laugh, his vast off road riding experience going back about as long as I have been alive, was put to good effect on the tough BAM road.  When the going got really tough it was great to send in Terry up front to show the best line though.  I learned a lot about line picking from watching Terry carve up the toughest tracks.  Terry was the first person we turned to if anything mechanical or technical was amiss.  ’Terry, what do you reckon?’.  Terry and I rode at similar tempos and for long stretches it was just Terry and I riding together, followed by a wait for Tony.

I will really miss those guys.  In 2 weeks or so, they will be back in England, and I will be where they are now.  Maybe I am mad to head up to Udachny again.

I loaded the bike onto the boat for Lensk at another obscure loading point.  As it happened, the boat had to dock briefly at the main river port anyway, next to the Lena Hotel.  I called the guys and told them to bring a few beers down to the river.  We clinked beer bottles for the last time down on the shores of the Lena, and my boat pulled away into the darkness, set for 1000 km on the Lena.

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30.08 – 31.08 – 01.09.09

I shared a 4 berth room on the boat with Valeri, and old truck driver from Lensk.  He was clean, didnt drink or smoke, and was about as good a companion as I could have hoped for.

I had been told the ride to Lensk would be two days,  Valeri had been told a day and a half.  A couple of hours out of Ust Kut and it was apparent that was not going to happen.  The engines shut down and the boot moored in the river about midnight.  When I awoke in the morning, we had not moved.  We were still just 45km from Ust Kut.  It was almost midday before the engines fired up again.  We had thought the boat had stopped due to fog last night, but there had be no fog since early in the morning. It was apparent there was a bit of engine repair and maintenance going on.  I noted only one propeller was turning and when the boat was moving we were making about 17-20 km/h … about the same as the barge had done two months earlier.  So I assumed we would also take about 3 days for the journey.

The boat had warm showers for a few hours each day and a galley, where hot meals were prepared 3 times a day.  That was a big improvement on the barge.  In theory the barge could have cost us about 9000 rubles each back in July … the price for vehicles was 4000 rubles per metre of length.  But they didnt know how to account for motorcycles as they are not full width vehicles.  I guess they could have charged us half the regular price per metre, but in the end they charged us nothing, and we took the barge from Ust Kut to Lensk for free.  The boat I was on now, the ‘Moskovsky 11′ charged 8000 rubles (180 EUR) per passenger for the journey (which included a cabin) … and 6000 for the motorcycle, which was fitting neatly on the front deck of the boat.

I have been in touch with Arnaud, the Frenchman we met in Vladivostok.  Arnaud went up to Magadan and rode to Yakutsk.  He is planning to ride to Lensk and we will probably try and take the return ferry together from Lensk to Ust Kut in about a week.

while beached in Kirensk to pick up a few passengers, I briefly fired up the laptop internet connection and had a chat with Mac Swinarski.  He is back in Poland after his epic ride to Anadyr.

This year is a turning into a great year for horizon widening in Siberia.  All sorts of new possibilities have opened up.  Routes have been mapped and documented.  Mac was telling me even the  locals in Anadyr know nothing about the perfectly decent new roads he found to their city.  Only a handful of people know anything about the roads – usually the truck drivers that regularly drive them in their 6WD trucks – and they typically dont have internet.  We found the same with the BAM road and Vilyuisky Trakt … There was only one guy who could tell us the Vilyuisky Trakt was definately do-able in its entirity, and that was Andrei the mechanic in Mirny.

Most of the locals you ask en route don’t have a clue and know only about the area within about an hour or two’s drive away from where they are. The two Moscow guys we met adventuing across the country in their wazzik (Road of Bones) had expressed great surprise that we had done the Vilyuisky Trakt.  They had been been researching Russian 4WD sites for months, and found nothing to suggest it was possible.

- – -

Back to life on the river … A day later, and our boat docked in Vitim, where the Vitim River joins the Lena.  Vitim is a real boom town around here.  There is a big plan to develop oil and gas fields about 170 km ‘inland’ and Vitim will be the centre of logistics for that.  The next few years will see the town grow from a small service port to one of the key cities on the Lena, the same way Lensk grew dramatically to service the diamond towns of Mirny, Almazny, Aikhal, Udachny and Anabar several decades ago.

Valeri my cabin mate was telling me that if it werent for the crisis they would have started building the planned road between Lensk and Vitim already.  Watch out for that one in the next few years.  Already there is a road from the BAM town of Nebel to Kirensk on the Lena, so in a couple of years you would need a boat only from Kirensk to Vitim.  In about 6-7 years, you wont need the boat at all to go from Ust Kut to Lensk as there should be a road all the way.  (Actually you dont need a boat now – you can go all the way the long way round via Tynda and Yakutsk.)  Plans are to link Ust Kut with the new oil and gas fields by road, which will already be linked to Lensk via Vitim.

- – -

02.09.09

About 10am, after 3.5 days on the river, the boat docked in Lensk and I unloaded my bags and then the bike.  I had a big day ahead of me.  I was going to try and get to Udachny, 770km away, all on dirt roads, by the end of the day.  If I made it, it would be the biggest day of the trip in terms of mileage.  I had wasted enough time on the boat and had itchy feet.  Too much time sitting and thinking, without any doing.

I found a fuel station and hit the road.  It was 10:20 when I left Lensk.  I’d had plenty to eat on the boat over the last few days so breakfast was not required.  I would go straight through to Mirny 240 km away.

The road from Lensk to Mirny was in truly excellent condition.  Its one of the finest dirt roads I have ever ridden.  I sat on 110 km/h the whole way, but if I didnt have mousse in my front tyre and gearing for low speed via my front sprocket, I would have done most of the road at 130.  I stopped on for photographs.  The seasons were changing up here already and the trees were bursting with colour.

I fuelled up again on the southern edge of Mirny.  I didnt need to – I would fuel up at Chernyshevsky 100 km further up the road too, but there the price would be a lot higher and the quality less reliable.  Better to get as much as possible while in Mirny.  I sped on to Andrei’s workshop, our trusty mechanic from 2 months ago, arriving at 12:45.  I had texted him I was on my way as I left Lensk, but it was a quiet day in the workshop and he was away.  I stripped the bags off the bike and just took a couple of much lightened bags – leaving two bags at Andrei’s to collect on my return.

I stopped at the Mirny market place to pick up some Samsa’s for the trip North.  Andrei had shown me this little shop, a personal favorite, 2 months ago, and remembered the samsa’s were the best I had eaten in Russia.  I took the liberty with time of eating one.  I pulled out of Mirny just before 2pm.  It would be a 6-7 hour ride to Udachny, 530 km away, assuming I stopped only for fuel along the way.

The road from Mirny to Chernyshevsky is not as good as the Lensk – Mirny section of the Anabar Road, and party out of respect for the road and partly because I wanted to get accustomed to riding at 90 km/h for the section North of Chernyshevsky to conserve fuel, I slowed to 90 km/h for the 105km to Chernyshevsky.  I topped up with 5 litres of fuel there.  Now I was maxxed out on fuel.  Both tanks dripping fuel onto the pavement.  22 litres ready to burn.

Last time we went up from Chernyshevsky, both Tony and I had both burned more fuel than expected … we had a strong headwind the whole way and rode at 110 km/h … which probably explains it.  But I ran out before Aikhal, which is still 65 km short of Udachny, and relied on Tony going ahead to get me 5 litres.  This time I wanted to go straight thru to Udachny. There wasnt too much wind about and I was going to try and stick to the more economical speed of 90 km/h by the GPS … which is about 96 km/h on my speedo.

The usual collection of ‘Jacksons’ (terminology courtesy of the brothers Vince) stopped me to ask the usual question in Chernyshevsky when I refuelled and then stopped at the shop for a litre of liquid refreshment, but I brushed them aside.  I was on a mission.  I had now done about 350 km and had 420 still to go – non stop.  I didnt know when it got dark this far North at this time of year, but I was only 3 weeks from the equinox … I guessed it would be about 8pm.  I had no time to spare if I wanted to not risk riding in the dark.

Headphones were blaring and I just concentrated on the surface of the road ahead.  There had clearly been rain around and some patches of the road were moist, tho so far no rain had touched me today.  The first point of interest would be the village of Morkoka.  It’s the only inhabited place between Aikhal and Chernyshevsky.  It has about half a dozen buildings, a fuel station that seems to only sell diesel (though I would try again to buy petrol when I got there) and I have been told a cafe with rooms.

When I got there, I asked a stopped truck driver where the cafe was.  It seems a silly question for someone in the west, but in the more remote parts of Russia, every building and every door looks the same.  None offer a hint of what is behind each one.  Places like Morkoka dont even bother with signs.  There are no visitors here – Just the regular truck drivers who know where everything is. I marked the location of the cafe on my GPS and moved on to the fuel station.

I am compiling a list of waypoints of all the cafes, fuel stations, hotels, water hazards etc I have used, crossed or even seen in off the beaten track Siberia.  I think that would be useful.  No one needs a guide or guide book if you already know where the fuel, cafes and hotels are.

As I suspected, the fuel station refused to sell me fuel – mentioned something about needing paperwork, coupons or something like that to buy here.  I looked inside my tanks to guess how much fuel I had left.  My economy looked good.  I estimated at current consumption I would get to Udachny with 2-3 litres to spare.

It was always a risk, now that I was travelling alone.  When I was with Tony we could take these risks.  If one person ran out of fuel, the other could go ahead with the fuel canister.  Tony had been Tsar of the spare fuel canister … mainly from necessity.  Terry and I both had 22 litres of capacity, due to modifications, but Tony had just the stock 17 litre tank.  This was however, compensated with a old 5 litre oil container found by the side of the road, at a cost of zero rubles / dollars / euro / sterling. By strap

30.06.09

Tony and I ate a post-midnight dinner in the 24 hour diner / discotheque (called the Ermak) at Ust-Kut’s Hotel Lena. It was a kind of cordon bleu chicken dish that was simply titled “Meat- French Style”. We finally made it to bed about 2am.

I was woken at 9:30 am by a phone call from Andrei the policeman, checking when we wanted to be picked up. I said 11am would be good and went back to sleep. Andrei came round about 11:30. Tony and I had by then visited the bank to stock up on cash for the days ahead and grabbed some food to substitute for breakfast at the local store. Andrei drove us back to the police station where we took out the bikes from the police garage.

While we packed up the bikes a TV crew appeared … arranged by the police I suspect. I had to do an impromptu TV interview in Russian for the Ust-Kut evening news. After that was done, we said farewell to the other police guys and Andrei drove us down to the makeshift loading ramp where a barge was being loaded for Lensk.  By the time we got there it was looking pretty full, but since we had the police on our side, we were optimistic of a positive outcome. Andrei spoke to the man in charge of loading and gave us the thumbs up before heading back home to his family. Tony and I decided we should buy him dinner when we again pass thru Ust Kut in 2 months time.

Time passed and a few more cars were jammed onto the barge and then to my shock and horror I saw the barge declared full and the loading bridge pulled up. These barges only run every 3 days or so. I approached the loading man and he told me that another barge will come shortly. We waited and waited and by now it was 3pm. I spoke with many of the waiting lorry drivers. They were confident we would all be getting to Lensk and I relaxed. One guy, after asking how we got to Ust-Kut, asked if we saw bears on our route. This was the same question that the police had asked. Maybe there really are bears on the Zhigalovo Road.

A larger unpowered barge approached, drawn by a tugboat. Before long we were all queueing up to load. The first barge was in the middle of river …. it hadnt gone anywhere and I suddenly realised the barges would somehow be joined together for the journey. Tony and I stocked up on food and water and beer for the journey. By now I had found out it would be two and a half days. We would leave Ust Kut about 6pm and arrive in Lensk about Friday lunchtime.

We were called up and approached the makeshift loading ramp with some caution. It had been awkward for a few of the vehicles before us but we made it on without too much fuss and were allocated a spot on the front right of the barge, just behind the loading winches.

I was unlikely to have anything more than very occasional mobile phone access over the next few days so quickly checked my email and sent a text back to home base. We are now 10-14 days behind the initially planned schedule due to the long stops in Tashkent and Irkutsk (my fault) and that makes some planned rendezvoux dif ficult. I had planned to hook up with Mac Swinarski in Magadan in about a weeks time, but just got news that “Mac is in Moscow, proceding Magadan-wards”. We will miss that rendezvous in Magadan. Good luck with MotoSyberia 2.0 mate.

As the barge pulled out of Ust-Kut we quickly got a feel for the wilderness were were travelling through. I had first developed an interest in visiting the Lena region after reading a book by Moscow based travel writer Jeffrey Tayler, called “River of No Reprieve” – About life, death and exile in the villages along the Lena River. In the book he travels by boat along the Lena from Ust-Kut to Tiksi, where the river meets the Arctic Ocean. That created a thirst to see for myself life on the Lena and beyond, and is the origins of wanting to get specifically to Lensk, Mirny and Udachny.

A lot of the towns on the Lena are related to the exile industry … The prettiest town we passed thru between Kachug and Zhigalovo was Verkholensk … which was the place of exile in Tsarist times for Felix Dzherzhinsky, the founder of the soviet secret police, which later became the KGB. The first village we passed after Zhigalovo, Tutura, was the place of exile several times for Kuibyshev – one of the initial soviet powerbrokers.

Around 10pm, with most of the truck drivers on the boat well and truly drunk, Tony and I decided it was dinner time. Tony’s portable stove and some pot noodles were the solution. I had foolishly brought only 3 bottles of beer onboard for the 3 days and was consuming my second one on the first night. Russian bottles are larger than those in the west – 500 ml rather than 300 or 330ml, but still I was facing beer shortages in the coming nights already. We chatted with some of the truck drivers till after midnight before retiring. It was still only half dark due to the date and the latitude.

- – -

01.07.09

Tony and I had a great nights sleep in Tony’s Khyam tent. (we have one each and sometimes use one and sometimes use both). We had put it up soon after we got on board yesterday as we thought it prudent to do the german thing and “reserve” our own space as soon as possible, before there is none left. There was a small bow deck area and a large part of it was already taken by a river trader taking goods downstream to Vitim. The first thing we saw this morning on the river bank was the number 3500 on a small sign. This point is 3500km upstream from the mouth. Ust Kut is at 3715km, so we had travelled 215km overnight. Only 750 km to go to Lensk.

The day began working on the bikes. We both had a bolt missing from our assorted luggage mounting systems. Mine will need to be fixed with a new threading tool, and Tony’s has a snapped bolt … and will need to be drilled out. Nothing we could fix on deck. Tony changed his air filter and I washed mine.

Yesterday we had been praising the engines on our bikes – these BMW Rotax engines dont consume oil or need anything but the most minor maintenance – and I mentioned to Tony what a blessing that is, as its inevitable that if you carry oil, the container will at some point burst on roads like this. Unknown to me, Tony still had a small container of oil that he was using on the asphalt roads as chain lube … we discovered today that the lid had come off … so half Tony’s morning was spent cleaning out and degreasing his pannier. Luckily we had some petrol with us. I meanwhile had found a bucket on a rope that a truck driver had left by the edge of the barge, and went about washing myself in Lenochka’s waters, hauled up one bucket at a time.

The scenery had not changed from last night. The river carved lazy gentle turns thru the wooded taiga forest … 50 metre hills usually lined each bank. It was both very wild and yet very serene at the same time. Our end of the barge was a long way from the engine … we were right at the front, and there was almost no noise. We just were peacefully gliding north through the Siberian taiga, on the beautiful River Lena.

By midday the sun was out in force, and the obvious thing to do was to slip into shorts, lose the shirt and take the air mattress out on deck. Tony followed and another passenger as well … 3 of us, lounging in the sun on our river cruise, with headphones in our ears. I for one needed the sun. 3 months inside motorcycle riding clothes has left my arms, legs and chest pasty white – with brown patches for my hands and face.

Six hours and a lot of red / pink skin later, Tony tuned in to catch the BBC news on his shortwave before preparing dinner. He has the cooking stove and has assumed the cooking duties. In a couple of weeks we will be joined by Terry, another englishman flying out to take part in the project. Terry is a camping guru, so Tony and I have decided that Terry should be in charge of cookery once he arrives.

Meanwhile, Tony had taken a packet soup and combined it with a couple of potatoes that had fallen out of the traders sacks to make a potato and vegetable soup. This was washed down with some warm beer and our standard chicken flavour noodles. Mmm delicious.

There was less drunkenness on board this second evening as we drifted past Kirensk, the last town of any notable size before Lensk and consequently having sensible conversations with the truck drivers was easier. We got good information about the roads ahead, the places that have food, petrol and even the rare hotel room. Clearly we would be camping a lot more after Lensk (indeed after Ust Kut). The good news was the weather was definately on the improve. It was clear skies as we headed to bed, both suffering for over exposure to the sun.

- – -

02.07.09

The river was wider now. We had begun in Ust Kut and there Lenochka was 150 metres wide. The barge we were on could just turn around in the river. Something this size could not have gone much further upstream. Now, as we drifted past Korshunovo, it was at least 400 metres wide. While a look at the flat surface indicated serenity, the power and speed of the river was apparent only when we passed a navigation buoy. These things were being pummelled by the fast flow.

The morning was spiced up when an elk was spotted drinking by the shore. I reached for my camera, while the crew (100 yards back) reached for the tender dinghy and a rifle. The dinghy sped out to the elk and a single shot was heard.

Its not my cup of tea, but I refuse to pass negative judgement in situations like this. The people in the far north of Siberia dont hunt for sport. They kill for food. There are no cows or sheep or pigs or chickens up here. Its a way of life to hunt wildlife for food.

In the afternoon we passed the “cheeks of the Lena” … where the river narrows and speeds up through some cliffs. It seemed the whole boat was up the front with us taking fotos.

By midnight we had reached Vitim, where the large Vitim river joins the Lena. At Vitim the river was wider still, between 500 and 800 metres wide, and still flowing just as fast. It was still light at midnight and in reaching Vitim we had passed another timezone. Now 9 hrs ahead of London.

- – -

03-07-09

The whole barge was still awake at 1am when we pulled in for the first stop of the trip, at Peledui. Tony and I were by now running low on supplies. We had not prepared adequately for the 3 day journey so I went ashore at Peledui to search for beer. It was twilight, but as dark as it was going to get. Mosquitoes were out in force. The boat was docked only for 30 minutes we were told, and a few intrepid drivers joined me for the walk along the streets in search of a cafe or shop. We found a cafe-bar place and was shocked by the prices. Its more expensive than Moscow here. I bought 2 bottles of beer, a litre of fruit juice and a large packet of crisps for 500 Rubles (about 12 EUR).

I returned to the barge just in time to see the gangway pulled up behind me. The Lena had been joined by a major tributary, the Vitim, and as we left the town of Peledui the River was notably larger … 1000 metres wide now, flowing just as fast as ever, and still 2900 km to its mouth. Huge ocean going ships could be seen from Vitim onwards, with registration details in latin script as well as the usual cyrillic.

We have been on the barge about 70 hrs now and are both looking pretty extreme ourselves. Tony is considering ways to shave … we could heat some water for shaving purposes. The onboard ‘facilities’ have been pretty grim. We piss overboard and so far have both held off on the need for anything more substantial.

We are over 60 degrees north now – poised for our big push up towards 66.7 degrees … the (arctic) polar circle. There are three continents that cross the polar circle and in 2 of them, Europe and North America, driving / riding to the polar circle is simply a matter of following the main roads north in Norway and Alaska … but in Asia there are no roads that cross the polar circle. We will have to ride across Tundra from the furtherest north we can find a road to … the mining town of Udachny.

I will post this update now, as our barge drifts into Lensk: the mighty Lena now 1500 metres wide.

27.06.09

We left Irkutsk about midday, after doing the Tony – Leon tyre switcheroo, chatting with Andreas and Claudia the Germans, taking Leon to the local auto parts / tools market (Leon had had almost everything stolen on his trip over .. tools, phone, you name it), and checking on the status of Hannes’ new shock absorber. Stas, the captain of the bike club, returned just before midday and we said our goodbyes and hit the road north.

The road to Olkhon Island on Lake Baikal was a good one, sealed most of the way. My only concerns related to the new off road tyres I had fitted in Irkutsk. They were squidgy on the asphalt compared to the Mefo’s I had left behind in Irkutsk (to collect on the way back) and took quite a bit of getting used to.

Initially I had planned just to head north to Zhigalovo for the first days ride, but 10km before the turnoff to Olkhon, I had a change of heart. Tony had always wanted to see Baikal in general, and having seen Baikal 3 times in the past I was keen to see Olkhon Island, which I hadnt seen before. Besides, what would the Sibirsky Extreme project be without a trip to the sacred Olkhon Island … a travel destination / pilgrimmage many Russians dream of making.

And so we turned off the road north and headed for the ferry to Olkhon Island. As we didnt know about fuel on the island we filled up in the last major town before the island and sped on to catch the ferry with seconds to spare.

25 miles of dirt road later and we had made it to Khuzhir, the main town on the island. I wanted to see Shaman Rock, the most sacred site on Lake Baikal for the local Buryats.

We found a guesthouse soon after (thanks to the local internet cafe – complete with one computer) and headed out for dinner … only to find Tony now had a flat tyre. His front. I zipped around town asking for directions to a Shinomontazh and ended up at the closed gates of a house a few hundred yards off the main street. I yelled across the fence and eventually a guy emerged asking what do I want. “do you do shino-montazh?” I asked.
“maybe” was the reply, that might as well have included the line “who’s asking?”. I explained that my english colleague had a flat tyre and we just needed to get it vulcanised. Eventually he relented and said “ok, where is he?”

I zoomed back to the main street to fetch Tony, led him to Anatoly, the local tyre guru, and then back to our guesthouse to get a couple more tools for removing Tony’s front wheel. When I returned to Anatoly’s, a tall german guy was talking to Tony … this was yet another cyclist he had met on the ride across Siberia. Tony stopped and talked to 3 cyclists on his way over, he had now re-met two of them. Anatoly fixed Tony’s wafer thin front tube and sent us on our way for 100 rubles (2 quid).

We headed off to a local Buryat cafe for dinner, beer and then home. Our home for the night was an outdoor room about the size of a large garden shed. The guy who owned it had built 3 or 4 in his back garden and rented them out.

- – -

28.06.09

I woke at 7:30 … we had told the lady of the house last night that we wanted breakfast at 8. It was pissing down rain. I wanted to try and catch her to postpone breakfast, but it was too late. She had already cooked our pancakes. I woke Tony and told him if he wants breakfast its time to get up. As we ate our Olkhon Island special breakfast of pancakes, cottage cheese and tea, the sky slowly lightened. By the end of breakfast the rain had stopped.

I needed to back up some data onto a portable hard drive, and told Tony to go on ahead to the one terminal internet cafe. No point us bother being there at the same time if there is only one terminal – and he packed up his bike and rode off.

Half and hour later, once I had packed up my gear and loaded the bike I rode down to the internet hut, to find Tony chatting to a couple of Australian retired couples, driving across Russia in 4x4s. I said my “g’days” and was offered a vegemite on vita-wheat biscuit … something I havent had in years. The internet was super slow and was occupied by a german guy uploading squillions of fotos, so Tony and I decided to forget about it and head off – I could upload the text by phone and the pics would have to wait. It was well after 12pm when we got going.

We arrived back at the ferry and were loaded on within 5 minutes. Not quite as quick as the way out, but the Australians said they waited 3 hours for a boat – so we should consider ourselves lucky – again. We headed for Bayanday, the turnoff point for driving to Olkhon, at at a road detour, Tony clipped a barrier with his hard luggage (not sure he would have had a problem with soft luggage and the bike fell on top of him. I was beaten to his rescue by three car loads of Russians, who lifted the bike up off Tony’s leg … and on to his ankle …ouch!

Anyway, I told him to be a man about it, rub some smelly ointment on it when we stop in at Bayanday 70km down the road, and he should be fine for a 100 metre dash tomorrow. And he did just that.

Bayanday was our lunch and fuel stop. Tony rubbed the goop onto his leg after our lunch of lagman soup and a chebureki each. We powered on after our late lunch and made Kuchug, in the pouring rain, by 5pm. I pulled into a shelter and decided to wait out the rain. Tony and I took advantage of the break by doing some minor repairs to the bike. We were of course approached by Kuchug’s finest assorted drunk locals … we pretended to speak no Russian. Kuchug was also our first sighting of the mighty river Lena … not so mighty yet, as we are right near its headwaters.

By 6pm we were underway again – the rain had stopped, at least the heavy rain. I wanted to make Zhigalovo for the night. The asphalt road stopped at Kuchug and it was 140 km of dirt road to Zhigalovo. The road followed the Lena and for much of the way it was a high speed dirt road with red cliffs on the right and the Lena on the left. The villages in this stretch were exceptionally pretty and traditional. Many of the villages from Kachug down all date from 1600 – 1650 … the great Cossack populating of Siberia.

It was about 7:30 when we arrived in Zhigalovo, and I followed signs to the “Hotel California” on the outskirts of town. Tony waited while I checked the place out. The skanky girl at reception said it was 500 rubles a night… for the room. Cheap. I asked to have a look at a room. She took me into a room, and it was uncleaned, with empty vodka bottles littered about. I asked to see another. She went downstairs and woke the ‘administrator’ … he was totally dishelvelled and reeked of booze. I went outside and spoke to Tony … suggesting we look for another place. Some locals said their was another guest house in the centre of town, right behind the Lenin Statue – cant get much more central than the Lenin Statue in a Russian town.

We found the central place, it was clean and run by a sober woman. It was twice the price but was worth it. And she had a yard for parking. We unloaded, and went out to look for a cafe. By now it was pissing down rain again. We failed to find a cafe so went to the general store on Lenin’s left. There we bought beer and instant noodles … all the dinner we needed.

- – -

29.06.09

No breakfast demands meant we slept in quite late – finally stirring about 9:30am. Tony needed to do some metal repairs on his side box … the attaching points had become a little bent in his fall yesterday. He found a vice and went about squeezing them back into shape.  The weather was still overcast.

I had been fantasizing about a combination of dirt roads and dry weather … it was something I hadnt seen since Kirgizia / Tajikistan. In general, it had been raining either partially or completely every day since hooking up with Tony. We were probably lucky the dirt roads were not more of a nightmare, considering all of the rain. I have always thought the chances of reaching the ultimate objectives of this trip are totally weather dependent. If we have good weather, the tracks I hope to try will be possible. A lot of rain and the picture changes. So far we have been unlucky, but have managed to struggle thru.

We stopped on the edge of town to refuel the bikes and ourselves … a surprisingly unsatisfying brunch today. Crap cafe. No cute serving girls, and grim food. It was 12:30 by the time we got underway … and we had a big day ahead. The pressure would be on. We were trying to ride from Zhigalovo to the BAM.

Most maps dont even have a road, but one detailed map I had showed a road, and the chat with Artyom in the Bike Club in Irkutsk a few days back confirmed that there was a road, and it was possible to get from Zhigalovo to the BAM. We were lucky to meet him… none of the Irkutsk bikers knew there was a road from Zhigalovo to the BAM, meaning none of the locals had ridden it. Artyom was one of very few bikers (or maybe the only one) who knew there was a rideable road there.

We crossed a pontoon bridge to the start of the “Zhigalovo Road” and were now in a map free zone. The sun was now out, and the road was pretty much dry. The first dry dirt road I had ridden since the the first 30 minutes with Tony back in the Altai. As a result we flew along it. At one muddy stretch I took a detour off to the side of the road and saw the unmistakeable tracks of Artyom’s Africa Twin. He had ridden here 4 days ago on his way home to Bodaibo. Artyom had driven the road before, but this was the first time he had ridden it on a bike.

Tony had mentioned that as an Englishman, he was not used to such long dirt stretches. He used to be in the rally scene (back in the days of steam engines I suspect) and was saying he cant remember a special stage of more that 25 miles in the dirt .. and here we were doing about 200 miles between villages in the dirt. So 25 miles from the end of this 200 mile “special” I stopped to wait for Tony … after waiting 5 minutes with no sign of his headlight, I decided I better check out whats up.

I drove back 17 kilometres before I saw him … he had slid off on a corner. But a passing Kamaz all wheel drive bus had picked him up and all was normal. We continued on and finally reached the village of Okunausky … and the BAM railroad. We had done the Zhigalovo Road. We had made it to the BAM!!

We turned left and made the more major town of Magistralny, where we refuelled the bikes and found a railway canteen. Dinner for two in the railway canteen came to 70 EUR cents. It was after 6pm but seriously hot … must be about 30 degrees. Warmest weather for ages. I contemplated taking off my vest as we rode off, heading for Ust Kut 170 km away.

The first 50 km out of Magistralny was a breeze, but there were dark clouds brewing ahead. In the distance lightning was flashing and the temperature was dropping fast. I stopped to put on my windproof fleece. The dirt road was becoming wet. Argghh ! Rain had recently been here. before long we caught up with the rain. Just as I thought we would have our first rain free day on the dirt. It was tolerable until we his a section of roadworks near Zvezdny. We were now only 50 km from Ust-Kut but the road was a nightmare. Deep and long stretches of mud bogs had cars stuck on the road, unable to go forwards or backwards. Tony and I plotted our own routes thru the bog and both made it clear, eventually, but the relief must have been too much for Tony as he went down in a much smaller muddy section a few hundred yards later. I returned to pick him up, showing my reluctance, and Tony just shrugged his shoulders.

I really admire the old guys balls. He is out here in Siberia …. not just riding across Russia or Siberia on the main road, but riding unchartered roads in Siberia. And he doesnt let the tough stuff faze him. His stiff upper lip and pluck is really admirable. He doesnt complain or moan. He has had a few falls in the last 2 days and a decent collection of bruises, but he just gets on with it. Class act. Must come from the half a million motorcycle miles he has under his belt already!.

Soon afterwards we met the Lena River again. We are getting familiar with it and will only get more familiar over the coming days. I have decided from now on, I will call her “Lenochka” .. a familiar form of Lena. This meant we were only a few dozen miles from Ust-Kut.

We pulled into Ust Kut and crossed the last bridge across the Lena … there are no more bridges at all for the remaining 3700 km (2300 miles) of its length. We needed a jet wash … but it was almost 10pm by now. I didnt like the idea of trying to check into a hotel totally covered in mud and with luggage that was totally covered in mud.

I saw a policeman and stopped to ask him where I might find a car wash. He immediately responded by asking me for my documents. “What an asshole” I thought. Cops almost always help when you approach them, rather than when they approach you. It was like he was taking advantage of me by asking for documents when I had asked him for help. It was poor sportsmanship! The game of driver vs cop has rules in Russia … and this was against the rules.

I broke off the conversation after showing him the docs and asked for the centre of town. “That way” he said – Ust Kut is 40 km long – stretched out along Lenochka.  We zoomed off and found the railway station and a hotel … the Hotel Lena … flashest hotel in town. They had no parking and I was frowned upon as I walked across the lobby in my muddy riding gear. but I got a room and returned to Tony and the bikes to begin unpacking.

As I unpacked I was bitching away to Tony about the cop, and how I felt he had broken the ettiquette rules by asking for documents when I had approached him, when Tony replied “Well here he is again”. And I looked up and the cop was there outside the hotel with his colleague, waiting to meet us. Lucky he didnt speak english!

As if to make a monkey out of me, he then invites us back to use the police jet wash. Wow … fine … done! We follwed him back to the station and parked up in the courtyard. Tony and I used the jet washer for a good 20 minutes each … and there was still mud coming off the bikes even then. We jet washed each other … from the knees down tho Tony needed a bit more after his falls. I blasted his back and sides. When we had finished, the police (Andrei and Andrei) offered to house the bikes in the police garage (we had nothing at the hotel and would have had to take every piece of baggage up to the room.)

The police also asked how many bears we had seen on our route up from Zhigalovo. None, i replied, should we have seen any? Aparently yes, this was bear coumtry

So it turns out I was completely wrong in my initial assessment – the police were excellent guys, very friendly and helpful. They told us to come back the next morning and they would help us sort out a ferry to Lensk. Top guys !